Muhammadu Buhari Wins Second Term as Nigeria’s President

Nigerian voters reelected Muhammadu Buhari to serve a second and final term in office as president of Africa’s most populous nation and its biggest economy.

Buhari beat a former ally and ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar in a vote that was seen as a close contest in the run up to the February 23 vote.

At the end of the process, however, it turned out that Buhari’s support for a final term was big and wide. He beat Atiku by close to four million votes to emerge winner.

He becomes only the second man to achieve the feat of securing two straight terms. The first president was Olusegun Obasanjo who won two terms (1999 – 2007).

The other two presidents post-1999 were Umar Musa Yar’Adua who died in office and Goodluck Jonathan who won 2011 vote but failed to secure reelection in 2015.

“Leave a naira (Nigerian currency) in a room with Buhari, you will still find it on the table when you return,” said Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the ruling APC, in defence of Buhari’s integrity in the runup to the elections.